A conclusion of a pursuit, dashing after desires that should have been satisfied a long time ago but it is assumable that the timing was never truly right. Taking a trip down the roots, ancient directions await the attention well deserved. In that particular place I suppose that Nocturno Culto, of the Black Metal duo of DARKTHRONE / SARKE, found himself in. He conceivably waited to seize the moment with a brand of Metal that he took pleasure in other than the music that he has been doing for the past two decades or so. Signed to DARKTHRONE's label, Peaceville Records, Nocturno Culto assembled his one man reception calling it GIFT OF GODS. Under that banner he released his debut EP, "Receive", a nearly half hour journey through Nocturno Culto's mind brining back to life vintage hazy and despondent classic Metal equanimities of BLACK SABBATH, HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST with various accompaniments of the darkened flavors of NWOBHM.

For the record, Nocturno Culto is far from what classic Metal fans consider as a suitable frontman; therefore, don't expect a high register shouter or even much of a mid-range melodic singer, but rather a crude version of the raspy toned Tom Warrior. On the other hand, Nocturno Culto's voice appears appropriate to his musical vision, so you won't be getting arguments from me on that. Singing might not be his strong quality, though the cover for UNIVERSE's "Looking For An Answer" showed a few signs of a prospect. Musically, clinging to the post developmental stages of obscured misty Metal music surrounding the first five years of the 80's, Nocturno Culto created a veil of atmospheric Heavy Metal, usurping traditional iconic Doom with a few hints of first wave Black Metal. The songs' arrangements led to epic original tunes with a tad pile of dirt on them for preserve their evilness, adequately coherent to fathom displaying riffs that has catchy basic lines, yet with the surplus lead guitar demonstrations that bestowed haunting melodies, at times achieving a melancholic posture, and several decent soloing cracks. The album's rhythm section is rather generic, providing the sense of pace, nothing flashy of a sort. "Last Solstice" is my favorite of the four tracks due to admirable riffs and memorable chorus, though the cover for UNIVERSE was well performed as I preferred originals, such a strong morbidity to it, Nocturno Culto's tone of voice might be a bit raw, yet correlated profoundly with the music. Like on the previous epic, "Enlightening Strikes", went down, rise up and toppled a few times due to filler segments, but after all it is hard to discourage such efforts and "Last Solstice" is the proof to that. The song's ancient groove was delivered with finesse, a startling atmosphere that became strong.

Coming to think of it, underneath it all it can be felt what makes Nocturno Culto ticking, slowly dedicating the strong connection between GIFT OF GODS to both his major Metal acts of DARKTHRONE and SARKE. However, it is also evident the desire to present something different than usual, a fine end product of old Heavy Metal wrapped but malevolence, listen to the ravens as they fly by waiting for their next prey.